Hector Martin

There is this cultural perception that alcohol makes people do thinks they normally wouldn't do. That it somehow changes who one fundamentally is. That things you do while intoxicated "don't count". That your hand "just slips". I call bullshit.

I drink. Not often, less often to the point of being significantly intoxicated. But I know what getting very drunk and having a crippling hangover most of the next day is like. I'm sure I've said some stupid shit. You know what getting drunk doesn't do? Change who I am.

Getting drunk lowers your inhibitions, but it doesn't erase your morals. It might make you less likely to consider consequences, but it doesn't magically make wrong things seem right. If you do something while drunk, then it's something *you did, and would do*.

Want to know the kind of stuff I've done while drunk? A classic of the CCC afterparties was hacking into the bar computer and doing some random stuff. Changing the password, ASCII art demos, a Debian chroot was involved at some point. Is that totally me? Yeah.

I would not do that normally, because that's someone else's property. But does it represent my morals? Yeah, it does. I wasn't hurting anybody, I left things the way they were, I just had some fun. I may have changed what I *chose* to do while drunk, but not what I consider doing

Getting drunk doesn't magically move your hands to someone else's breasts or ass. If you're doing that while drunk, it means **that is the kind of person you are**. You might *choose* not to do it sober, perhaps due to the fear of consequences, but you still think it's OK.

And you know what that means? That you'd still do it. That deep down, if you had the chance to do it sober, with zero consequences, and perhaps (if you still have some concern for the other person, which isn't a given) zero remorse, you'd do it.